Marc Marquez to assess fitness in FP3 after broken arm surgery
Marc Marquez's bid for a remarkably swift return to MotoGP action will hinge on Saturday's FP3 at the Andalusia Grand Prix.
The six-time MotoGP champion underwent surgery on a broken arm on Tuesday but then headed to Jerez on Thursday and was quickly passed fit to ride.
Marquez was not involved in the initial practice sessions on Friday, however, with brother and Repsol Honda team-mate Alex going alone.
But the team confirmed Marquez would take to the track the following day "to assess his fitness" ahead of qualifying.
Marquez added: "I can ride, and after discussing with Honda, we decided to start directly on Saturday.
"With the team, we have set ourselves only one objective, which is to see our feelings tomorrow in FP3. Let's see how the arm is and from there we will decide our next objective."
The reigning champion was far from alone in suffering an injury at the belated season-opening Spanish GP last week, however.
Viernes positivo, pero mañana toca dar un paso más!
— Alex Márquez (@alexmarquez73) July 24, 2020
Positive friday, but we have to do a step forward tomorrow!#AndaluciaGP pic.twitter.com/aqnrmRHu2q
Neither Cal Crutchlow nor Alex Rins managed to start the race following prior crashes at the event, but both are keen to be involved this week and took part on Friday.
Crutchlow, like Marquez, had surgery this week on a wrist problem and said: "My feeling on the bike is a little strange.
"I don't have so much pain in the wrist but, when I do have some pain, I try to ride around it as much as possible.
"The condition of me on the bike is not superb after the crash last week, but we will continue to work to make me more comfortable and feel good for the rest of the weekend.
"The surgeon and the doctors have done a good job, as well as me with keeping ice on the wrist and trying to do the best as possible to keep the inflammation down and grit my teeth and get on with it."
Rins, who fractured and dislocated his shoulder last time out, still was not entirely sure of his status despite getting back on the bike.
"Before the start of today, I was thinking, 'I'll feel pain but I can still ride well'," he said.
"After the session, I saw that this was impossible and I felt much more pain than I expected. We have to keep fighting and working and FP2 was much better than FP1.
"For FP2, I tried some analgesic to try to reduce the pain. There was less pain but not enough.
"I feel pain but I don't put risk on the tendons. We'll see after tomorrow because for sure I need to feel better on the bike."